ON LINE RESERVATION

domenica 25 giugno 2017

FAST FOOD ROMAN WAY

Pizza, supplì and...

When talking about fast food restaurants, one thinks immediately to brands like McDonald's or Burger King.
Actually tere are not many places from those brands in Rome. Nevertheless there are plenty of places that may be defined fast food restaurant.
The tradition dates back to the ancient Rome time.
The movies show us the ancient Romans who banqueted lying on the tricliners, but that was true only for rich and eccentric people or in very special cases.
The ancient Rome had over one million inhabitants and most of them lived in condominium apartments that were not equipped with cooking; At best they had a brazier to heat the food they bought outside.
There were three types of places to eat

Thermopilium, similar to a modern bar, essentially serving hot and cold drinks and some limited type of food

Caupona, a simple place mostly frequented by popular classes

Taberna, more similar to a modern restaurant, also frequented by richer people

Also in the Middle Age the tradition of quick meals did not disappear. One of the most famous streets in the center of Rome, Via Panisperna, is named after the tradition of the monks of a church along the street to serve panis ac perna (bread and ham).

...a touch of science and history

Enrico Fermi

Let's open a short window about science and history.

Why is Via Panisperna so famous and important? Because it is the street where it was located the Physics Institute of the University of Rome La Sapienza and where the Via Panisperna boys, a group of scientists led by the future Nobel PrizeEnrico Fermi, discovered the slow neutrons making possible the development of the nuclear reactor, the first one being built and operated by Fermi at the University of Chicago on 1942, and of the atomic bomb.

By the way, once again rome has been the city shaping the future of the world.

Let's eat now!

But let's now come to food. Almost everywhere in Rome you will find a Pizzeria al taglio, a shop where pizza is sold by the slices that can be eaten on site, seating at the desk or taken away. Here a list of some of the best ones.

Along with pizza, you will alway find supplì, likely the most classical Roman street food. Supplì (here the list of the best paces)is a ball of rice with tomato and meat sauce, filled with mozzarella cheese and deeply fried.

In addition to supplì, you will often find other deeply fried food:

- zucchini flowers, filled with mozzarella cheese and anchovies

- potato croquetes

- filetti di baccalà (dried codfish)

Sometimes a pizzeria al taglio grows becoming a Rosticceria, selling other cooked food for take-away or consumption on site.

In almost every bar you may find tramezzini, sandwiches of soft white bread with different fillings.

But, in my opinion, the best street food is pizza con mortadella. Just get into a grocery store, ask for a slice of white pizza to be opened and filled with mortadella.

If there is something that you may compare to a perfect happy marriage, you found it. It will satisfy not only the sense of taste but also the sense of smell with the fragrance of the freshly cut mortadella